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Two Wise Beings

© John McManamy

"Hunger is the supreme disease. Mental activity is the supreme suffering ..."

So far, we have examined depression in the context of a brain crash - of a physical occurrence on three dimensions, with treatment directed toward the material causes. In this series of articles, we will look upon depression as an event of the mind. The prevailing wisdom is that once a patient has begun responding favorably to medication (getting the brain right) he or she should work with a therapist to help think one's way around future depressions (getting the mind right).

But before we consider the modern forms of therapy, perhaps we should go back in time some 2,600 and 2,000 years to two wise beings who happened to know a whole lot about the mind and human nature:

In the first line of the Dhammapada, the best known of the Buddhist scriptures, Buddha says: "Mind precedes its objects. They are mind-governed and mind-made. To speak or act with a defiled mind is to draw pain after oneself, like a wheel behind the feet of the animal drawing it."

In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ had this to say: "If a man looks upon a woman with a lustful eye, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Mat. 5.28.)

No, you won't go to hell for thinking bad thoughts. That's not how I read this passage, not in the context of the Buddha. Rather, it's more like: If you are thinking of getting up to no good, then as sure as night follows day, no good will happen.

If you have any doubts about this, just recall the last time you thought about that shrimp dip in the fridge and how long it remained there once the thought entered your head.

Now the convergence of Christianity and Buddhism starts to get uncanny: Christ says: "If your right eye is your undoing, tear it out ..." (Mat 5.29.) Buddha says: "A learned and noble disciple ... becomes dispassionate with regard to the eye." (Fire sermon.) Christ says: "If your right hand is your undoing, cut it off." Buddha says: "He becomes dispassionate with regard the ear." (Okay, different organ, but you get the picture.)

Soon after, Christ must go to Jerusalem to fulfill his destiny. Buddha, however, will lead a long life full of teachings. The following are from the Dhammapada:

"Mind precedes its objects. They are mind-governed and mind-made. To speak or act with a peaceful mind is to draw happiness after oneself, like an inseparable shadow."

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